Watch What Happens When Guys Read Real Stories of Sexual Assault

“It’s not fair."

Trigger Warning: This post contains detailed information about sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.This piece is part of Not Your Fault, a Teen Vogue campaign that aims to educate people about the epidemic of sexual assault. For more on this series, click here.

In an effort to start a conversation around sexual assault, we decided to ask a group of young men to read a series of sexual assault stories on camera and share their reactions. The stories were submitted to us by real survivors who were eager to see their stories be told. There are a few reasons why we decided to do this.

Some of the survivors who submitted stories wanted to give people another chance at reacting to their story, while others wanted to tell their stories in a way that would allow them to remain anonymous. We also wanted to provide a safe space that would facilitate a real conversation about sexual assault, and we wanted this conversation to involve the people who are, by society's standards, the least likely to have perspective on this issue. In the current conversation surrounding sexual assault, men are demonized, excluded, or they are responsible for perpetuating rape culture. It's time to flip the script, because nothing will change until everyone is part of the conversation.

The men we invited to be part of this series are cisgender, transgender, black, white, Christian, Jewish, Agnostic, Buddhist, gay, straight, and pansexual. We hope that next time you hear a sexual assault story, whether it's on the news or at your school, you are thoughtful and supportive in your discussion.

Brandon and Winter read the story of Rachael, a 23-year-old survivor who identifies as non-binary, more specifically agender demiwoman (meaning most "of the time, I am without gender, but I use femininity as a core value of mine"), as well as asexual and panromantic (meaning "I am uninterested outrightly in sex, however, romantically, I am interested in any and all types of people"). Rachael, who uses the pronouns they/them, was sexually assaulted by their boyfriend, and they talk about betrayal, mental health, and the reactions their parents had when they found out Rachael's boyfriend — not a stranger — violated them.

Jason and Yahdon read Danielle's story about being gang-raped by her friends after school. Danielle, who is 24 years old, is cisgender, straight, and uses she/her pronouns. After her assault, she was slut shamed by the people in her grade, who accused her of "asking for it."

Spencer and Anthony read Ronda's story about being molested for eight years by a member of her own family. Ronda is a 26-year-old Texas native who is straight, cisgender, and uses any pronouns. Her story is about the trauma she faced after being molested for so many years, and how her family reacted, how her friends reacted, and the mental health issues that followed.

"I learned that it wasn't my fault," she says. "God makes no mistakes, my past doesn't define me, time heals everything, there IS a life AFTER abuse, and I can use my story to give another survivor courage to press forward."

Andrew and Alex read the final story of the series.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can seek help by calling the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673).